Singer/songwriter Griffin House comes back to Cincinnati tonight for an 8 p.m. show at the 20th Century Theatre in Oakley with local guests, the Folk Pop duo Ellery. The Springfield, Ohio, native (currently living in/working out of Nashville) has long received critical acclaim for his albums and his numbers commercially go up with each new release. He's coming to town as part of his spring/summer tour, just two days before his 32nd birthday. House turned down a golf scholarship to attend Ohio University and instead went to Miami University in Oxford, where he first taught himself to play guitar and write songs.Here's the video for House's Tom Petty-esque song about the Nashville floods, the Gulf oil spill and war, "Head for the Hills." The song was recent spotlighted in a Huffington Post story titled "When Art and Activism Spill Over in Nashville," in which House discusses what led him to write the song and make the video. • Indie Rock band Cursive — from Omaha and recording artists on Saddle Creek Records, home to Bright Eyes — pull into Bangarang's of Covington tonight for a 7 p.m. show. Opening up are Conduits and Cymbals Eat Guitars. Tickets are $16. Here's a track, "Wowowow," from Cursive latest album, February's I Am Gemini. Read more here and click here for a free download of the song (and another, "The Sun and Moon").• Columbus born/Chicago based Avant/Indie foursome Loyal Divide play a free, 10 p.m. show at MOTR Pub tonight in Over-the-Rhine. Way Yes opens. Check out this groovy video for "Vision Vision." • Other solid bets: The Comet has Buffalo Killers and Alabama-based labelmates Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires (10 p.m.) for free; Ugly Radio Rebellion pays tribute to Zappa at Stanley's Pub at 9:30 p.m. ($5); area band Sohio plays the All Night Party's first Third Thursday concert, bringing local original music to Mt. Adams' AliveOne bar (free; 9 p.m.); and two of Cincy's finest Folk acts — The Tillers and Shiny and the Spoon — play the Cincinnati Zoo's free Tunes & Blooms show tonight, starting at 6 p.m. Click here for all of tonight's live music options.

Great local tunes, a Country legend, AltRock cult faves and more tonight in da clubs

• Excellent local Indie Rock crew Sohio celebrates the birth of its new baby, the solid full-length Sonuminous, with a free release show/party at MOTR Pub tonight at 10 p.m. The album is an enjoyably eclectic release that features some of the finest Sohio songs yet, from Pixies-esque Indie Pop to New Wavy Rock and even some twangier, rootsy moments. You can download the great new album track "Painted Bird" here for free. Give it a listen below if you're the noncommittal type. &lt;a href="http://sohio.bandcamp.com/track/painted-bird"&gt;PAINTED BIRD by SOHIO&lt;/a&gt;• Nashville singer/songwriter Dillon Hodges performs a free show tonight at The Avenue in Covington. Hodges recently collaborated with local media development company zoneCG for a music video that was shot around Northern Kentucky. Showtime is 10 p.m. Check the video below.

The Cincy Blues Society's annual "Winter Blues Fest" is coming up at the end of January, but Monday you can get your Blues fix via a stellar lineup at Play By Play in Silverton. And it's for a good cause: helping area artists spread the good word of Midwestern Blues. The "Road to Memphis 2010" raises money to help local musicians get to Memphis to battle in next month's International Blues Challenge.

Jan. 8 • Southgate House

When CityBeat profiled Butler County kinda roots kinda indie/alt rockers Sohio a few months ago about their forthcoming album, it was confirmed that the release was finished (after more than three years in the making) and that it would be released in early 2010. What the band members didn't know was what the full-length would be titled. We'll all find out Friday at the Southgate House.

After three years in the oven, the sophomore CD really delivers

They've been together for seven years and their musical bond seems unbreakable through life’s changes — marriage, sickness, a robbery. In October 2007, a thief broke into vocalist/guitarist Mark Houk's house and the band lost seven guitars and other equipment (still a sore subject). But that weekend, they scrounged up borrowed guitars and played a gig at Northside Tavern anyway.